"They have their "Keep Austin Weird" campaign and we were chuckling about it, and 'Don't Edmond my Norman, came out of that drive back," Sorrells said.

Recently he was chatting with friends on The Transcript message boards about Norman developments and where the town is going now.

The concern that led to the "Don't Edmond my Norman" campaign was what the message posters saw as an ominous trend. University alcohol policies, the town's nuisance house ordinance, burgeoning Stepford-home developments and increasing traffic snarls were named by some who believe Norman is on a slippery slide downhill.

Sorrells had his own example.

"This year I got hooked into organizing Groovefest because some of the students couldn't do it," he said. "And we had a heck of a time getting the noise variances for Groovefest, and it's an event that's been going on in Norman for 20 years. And it's not because anybody at the city's bad or being cranky with us or anything, but the town's evolving."

Apparently there had been noise complaints from neighbors about the amphitheater.

" ... From some degree I can understand that, but it's a college town and they moved down there by an amphitheater and that's what makes Norman fun is that kind of stuff," Sorrells said.

"Norman is going to grow," he said. "But the thought behind it is that we need to grow in a way that Norman doesn't lose its essential character. ... It's a dynamic, how things evolve over time in a town like this. ... We sure want to make sure we keep it fun and keep it interesting and don't let it just grow and grow until it's to the point where it's just another big bedroom community."

But one of the the message posters' concerns is that as more and more people move to Norman as a bedroom community, the newcomers aren't as emotionally invested in Norman.

"And as you keep adding certain kinds of developments, you end up bringing in folks who really aren't part of Norman in the same way. And that changes the demographic and kind of the political dynamic in Norman too," he said. Sorrells stressed he doesn't have anything against Edmond.

"But I live in Norman for a reason. I want to keep it funky. ... It's important. We have to take care of the patois of our town," he said. "There's not an agenda behind it larger than that. ... I think I'm going to go buy another hundred now."

Carol Cole 366-3538 ccole@normantranscript.com